David Protess, a pro­fes­sor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in Chicago, has been award­ed the Puffin/​Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. Protess and his inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism stu­dents exposed mis­car­riages of jus­tice in a num­ber of high-pro­file cas­es in Illinois, includ­ing the case of Anthony Porter, who was only 48 hours away from his exe­cu­tion until stu­dents found evi­dence of his inno­cence. Porter’s case has often been cit­ed by for­mer Illinois Governor George Ryan, whose ques­tions about inno­cence and sys­temic fair­ness led him to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in Illinois short­ly after Porter’s exon­er­a­tion. Protess said he will use a por­tion of the $100,000 prize to expand his inves­ti­ga­tions to oth­er states and to estab­lish a project to help ease the tran­si­tion of exon­er­at­ed inmates to dai­ly life out­side prison. When asked about his work, Protess not­ed, ​“Some peo­ple think it’s inspir­ing. I think it’s dis­may­ing. Seniors in col­lege should not be the last line of defense against an inno­cent per­son being exe­cut­ed.” (Bob Herbert, New York Times, December 5, 2003). To date, 111 peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed from America’s death rows. See Innocence.

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